This invention relates to a multiplex control system for vehicles, which allows individual switches to have multiple functions, depending upon the state of the vehicle.
For some time there has been an interest in applying multiplex systems to control the components of vehicles such as automobiles. Britain U.S. Pat. No. 4,293,947 is one example of such a multiplex system. In spite of this interest, currently available vehicle multiplex systems do not fully exploit the potential of such systems for providing improved control functions in vehicles.
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved vehicle multiplex system which minimizes the total number of input switches required to control the vehicle.
It is another object of this invention to provide such a system in which individual switches command differing functions, depending upon the state of the vehicle.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide such a system in which power window control switches control the power windows when the ignition is on and the doors are closed, and which automatically command power lock operation when the ignition is off and any one of the doors is opened.